Hubs and I married in October 1984.
I know, that’s decades ago and when we stop to think about it even just a teeny-weeny bit forty years is a long time...
It all started at my book club meeting back in 2023 when one of my friends announced she was going to South Africa the following year and there were two places left on her trip if anyone was interested?
Without giving it another thought I said,
“I am!” And that was all it took!
“It’s our 40th Anniversary trip,” I announced to my Blue Eyed Cowboy with a kiss when I got home, “it’ll be fun,” I added as he stepped back still reeling, lips in mid- pucker!
“When do we leave?” was all he could stammer, confusion tickling his face.
I arranged the rest which meant talking (really listening) at length to the enthusiastic South African tour guide, who lives in Dallas. In an hour or two we were signed up.
On October 19th 2024 we flew into Cape Town to spend a week at the Radisson Red on the Victoria and Albert Waterfront. The name gave away the fact that South Africa was heavily influenced by the British during the 18th & 19th centuries (previously by the Dutch) giving the city an English atmosphere with their driving on the left and speaking perfectly cultured English. Our coach driver said,
“Left is right; right you die!”
We ate at a fancy African restaurant called Karibu on our first night… I treated us to death by chocolate..
We survived.
Cape Town is graced with fancy restaurants and we visited several during our five night stay.
The city is chic and a playground for wealthy tourists and local professionals. My interest was piqued; where did the locals, the hotel staff, taxi drivers, peace keepers, shop owners and fishermen live?
The marina our hotel was on is dominated by Table Mountain, a famous landmark and a perfect backdrop for the hundreds of luxury yachts and me!
The very next morning we took a guided tour up to the base of the mountain where there were luxury homes snuggled into the foothills. We stood in line to take a cable car to the top where the winds were high and unpredictable. To add to the slow moving queue that morning we encountered mechanical problems that intermittently halted the ascent and decent of the mode of transport Hubs was less than enthusiastic to experience. After an hour or so we opted to sit it out in a cafe at the base of the mountain and people watch while eating ice cream. We felt safe now, no need to take the risk of getting stranded neither half-way up or down.
That afternoon we visited the Kirstenbosch Gardens where we saw vast areas of native trees and familiar exotic flowers, that grow happily in Texas, in their native habitat, 
By the end of the afternoon Hubs and I were getting sore throats and runny noses so the next morning we decided to bow out of the seal island cruise and Cape Point nature reserve and missed a Funicular ride-never been on a Funicular-.
Instead we wandered the immediate area around our hotel and discovered an efficient pharmacy just a few steps from the hotel whose pharmacist sold us over the counter remedies for our allergies or colds. Better yet, on our return to the hotel we discovered that we could book a room-service doctor’s visit.
We rested in the afternoon until a lovely, young lady toting two black bags and a welcoming smile knocked on our door. She tested us for ‘flu and covid, both negative. However, she took into consideration that we didn’t want to ruin our trip and prescribed a round of antibiotics that she dispensed in front of us as a safeguard to stop whatever we had progressing to a our chests.
Emboldened by our medications we went out again and window and restaurant shopped along the sea front. We enjoyed an afternoon coffee and snack and sat back to let the tranquility of the marina relax us. 
Over the next few days in-between booked excursions we found some lovely African touristy shops where we were tempted to buy wooden drums, Zulu spears, head dresses, handwoven carpets, clothes and artefacts to ship home. We settled on looking and admiring after doing the math to ship any of it back to America.
We bought fabric and wall hangings that could be easily packed in our suitcases and I took home a selection of scarves and small, hand carved elephants and Pumbaa’s for children and adults alike.
The Victoria and Albert Mall had familiar fast food shops, McDonalds and Wimpy (the first British burger place in the London where I grew up; still around on the high streets today.) There was also a Marks & Spencer, unabashedly British. Everything seemed cheaper but of course we were dealing in Rands not sterling so I don’t know for sure.
The third day’s sight seeing tour was optional so we joined a few other’s from our group and took the ferry over to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964.
Mr. Mandela remained a political prisoner on the island, during the white-minority apartheid regime in South Africa, until 1982.
He lived in the tiny cell, pictured below, for eighteen years and had many controversial and dangerous political conversations with other inmates, also outspoken political activists. Their access to outside news was limited, some was smuggled in by visitors and the occasional phone call from family. They were only allowed out of their cells for a few hours each day and they spent the time exercising, growing flowers and some vegetables to augment their meagre diet.
Mandala was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison, a maximum security penitentiary in Tokai in 1982 , an affluent, leafy suburb of Cape Town, known for its upscale neighbourhood, high end restaurants, wine estates and luxury homes highlighting a current reality in South Africa where extreme wealth and widespread poverty live side by side, oftentimes with only a tree line to delineate between the two.
Mandela was finally unconditionally released by F.W. de Klerk on February 11, 1990.
Our Zulu guide, once we had arrived on the island and boarded our bus, was full of stories and personality. She spoke to us in her native tongue which included lots of clicks and I recorded a traditional story about a skunk going up a hill. 
Have a listen it’s hilarious!
The following day was our 40th Wedding Anniversary and we visited the Cape Wine Lands. Franschhoek first, a picturesque town that reminded me of Santa Barbara in California.
We lunched at Helena’s Restaurant and paired wines with our food that ranged from beef to ostrich Carpaccio, and the national dish of Bobotie which is spiced meat with dried fruit and curry powder baked under a savoury egg and milk custard. This dish came up several times during our trip and was always delicious. along with their traditional dessert called Malva Pudding which was very like my English sticky toffee pudding.
The second winery was in Stellenbosch further north of the city and in the hills. We could tell that this sunny, cooler weather was absolutely well suited to grape growing as we admired the beautiful countryside on the drive.
We toured the property, took photos and met the owners.
After an hour Hubs and I had to leave, without tasting any of the wine I might add, to keep our hotel room-service doctor’s follow up visit. We called an Uber and I jumped at the opportunity to see the ‘other side’ of life in South Africa. I asked our Zimbabwean driver to take us to the townships so that we could see where the other half lived who were workers in the city. He agreed to drive us past but actually going into the townships was, “too dangerous; murders reported every night,” he told us.
Back at our hotel the doctor was prompt and re-checked our temperatures. By now we both felt a lot better and she told us we were good to go on our four day safari tomorrow. Before letting her leave we engaged her in a conversation about life and education in Cape Town.
Apparently her first career choice had been to be an opera singer. Her parents thought that getting a professional job in medicine was better for her, more steady. The total number of years she had had to study to become a General Practitioner was nine; six years at university for a bachelor of Medicine and a bachelor of surgery; a paid 24 month internship; and one year of community service working in public health facilities and under serviced areas. To be a specialist it takes a further 4-6 years. She was now a fully qualified M.D. but her dream to sing was still uppermost in her mind. Naturally Hubs and I, being performing arts buffs, encouraged her to follow her initial dream and if it didn’t work out she had a perfectly respectable medical career to fall back on.
Then she wished us well on the next leg of our journey and made us promise to continue with our medicine until it ran out.
That evening we went to a noisy African restaurant on the wharf where I found a very dark beer called Striped Horse
which tasted just like a Guinness; with a well seasoned beef stew to accompany it I felt very much at home! A group of young Zulus came in and sang and danced for us making a joyful and glorious sound. They had us laughing and clapping.
What a unique way to spend our 40th year of happily married bliss, thousands of miles away from where we grew up and met. A couple of jet-setters!
After five days in Cape Town we headed to Cape Town airport where we boarded a flight bound for Hoedspruit Airport Base. There we were transported by luxury coach to our game reserve about a 90 minutes drive. On the way we passed through miles and miles of land, saw boys and women driving goats ahead of them, men on donkeys, others just walking to who knows where? We didn’t pass any villages at the side of the road for miles
until we passed through Hoedspruit Harmony and knew we were on our way to spend a few unforgettable days on safari in the Makalali Game Preserve.